Have you ever been in a situation so challenging that you didn’t know what to do? Few things will make us feel more alone than facing down a challenge that is greater than our resources. If I’m describing almost every sleepless night you’ve ever had, then today’s Bible passage is for you.
I read an interview with a young man named Alex Honnold, who is famous in the sports world for his free solo climbing adventures. Free solo climbers don’t use any ropes or harnesses or other equipment in their climbing. Only the most fearless, disciplined climbers attempt it.
In September 2008, Honnold was climbing the Half Dome rock wall in Yosemite National Park. A filmmaker documented his climb in a short film titled “Alone on the Wall.” Half Dome is a 2,000-foot rock formation with a sheer face. It’s dangerous for climbers who use traditional gear like ropes and harnesses. For a free solo climber, it’s an insane, death-defying challenge. But about 1,800 feet up the side of Half Dome is a very thin, flat granite surface. Climbers call it Thank God Ledge. It’s one of the only surfaces along this climbing route where a climber can get a solid foothold, or even rest for a minute before continuing to the top of Half Dome.
That day, Honnold made it to Thank God Ledge. But then he froze. He was all alone on a thin lip of granite 1,800 feet above the valley floor. He looked at the sheer rock surface around him. If he didn’t find a good foothold, if his fingers slipped just a little as he reached for the next crevice, he would fall 1,800 feet to the hard ground below. And for one of the few times in his climbing career, Alex Honnold was afraid. This is a world-class climber, one of only a handful of people in the world who makes the risky climbs that he does. Neuroscientists have even run tests and functional MRIs on him to study how his brain processes fear. It doesn’t. Alex Honnold just doesn’t feel fear. Except for a rare moment like this day, on the Thank God Ledge, when he froze and couldn’t move forward.
For five long minutes, he stood on the Thank God Ledge, struggling to get his fear under control and figure out his next move. With his legs cramping, Alex turned around and felt his way toward the closest rock jutting out from the Half Dome’s face. He pushed himself upward on that tiny rock, then grabbed for a crevice to hold on to. He pulled himself up off the Thank God Ledge and climbed the last 200 feet to safety. (1)
It’s hard to imagine how alone Alex Honnold must have felt as he stood there on the Thank God Ledge. But I think of his story when I read our Bible passage today from 1 Kings 3 about a young king named Solomon who felt alone and ill-equipped to face the challenge of leading God’s people.
Solomon was the youngest son of Israel’s king, David. Theologians believe he was around 20 years old when he took over his father’s throne. He had power, he had authority, he had assistants and advisors and all manner of resources at his fingertips. And yet, it wasn’t enough. He needed more than a crown and a bunch of yes-men to lead God’s people. So he found himself on his own Thank God Ledge, alone and facing a massive challenge. And he found his foothold; he got a grip, by calling on God for help.
Solomon’s story reminds us that our inadequacy is God’s opportunity to work through us. That is a tough lesson for us, especially in our society where we celebrate independence and “rugged individualism.” We all want to look like winners. Like we have it all together. Like we don’t need anyone’s help. But read through the Bible and you’ll see the same theme repeated over and over again: God chooses to do His greatest work through average people who rely on God’s power to work through them.
Pastor Jim Cymbala, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, recalls his two years in ministry at the church as a time of frustration and exhaustion and anxiety. Attendance was low; they were barely making ends meet. He and his wife, Carol, were working all the time. And they didn’t see God working in their congregation. One night Jim became so depressed during the service that he couldn’t preach. He just stopped and admitted that he was too depressed to preach that night. He asked the congregation members to come to the altar and pray. That night the church experienced a spiritual awakening as the members cried out to God. And Pastor Cymbala realized that he had not asked God to guide him and help him in ministry. Since that night, prayer has been the foundation of all that the Brooklyn Tabernacle does. Today, they have a congregation of 10,000 people, and ministries that reach all throughout their city.
Pastor Cymbala would later write of that night, “. . . I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power.” (2)
Our weakness makes room for God’s power. When Solomon admitted his inadequacy to God, God stepped in and offered His power.
Solomon’s story also reminds us that it is impossible for us to reach our God-given potential without God’s guidance. In Genesis 1-2, God created humans in God’s image for the purpose of living in an intimate, trusting relationship with Him. In their relationship with God, Adam and Eve had access to all of God’s character, all of God’s power, all of God’s wisdom. Their lives were aligned with the will and purposes of their Creator.
Jon Collins and Tim Mackie, hosts of “How to Read the Bible” podcast suggest that Solomon’s request of God is an opportunity to undo the damage that Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Solomon asked for a discerning heart and the ability to distinguish right from wrong. The Hebrew word used here for “discerning” can be literally translated as “listening.” Solomon is asking for a heart to listen to God, to rely on God’s guidance instead of his own resources. Solomon is asking for a second chance to walk with God, to see life through God’s eyes, to rely on God’s power instead of his own. (3)
If we had the perfect ability to listen to God and to see life through God’s eyes, wouldn’t it eliminate all kinds of confusion and anxiety and stress? Wouldn’t we find meaning and joy in using our skills and opportunities to glorify God?
Finally, Solomon’s story reminds us that our life is not about us. Our life is a testament to the world of what can happen when God adds His awesome power to our average abilities.
St. Teresa of Avila was a Spanish Carmelite nun who lived in the 1500s. As she traveled all over Spain establishing new monasteries, she took with her an uneducated young woman named Anne of St. Bartholomew.
After Teresa’s death, Anne was promoted and given opportunities to serve that seemed to be far beyond her abilities. She felt unworthy and ill-equipped for the ministries given to her. Eventually, she was promoted to a position in which she was asked to establish new Carmelite monasteries in foreign countries.
Anne knew she was in over her head, so she complained to God in prayer, “Lord, can you ask all this of me? I am nothing but straw!”
And in prayer Anne heard God say, “Ah, but it is with straws like this that I light my fire.” (4)
Because we are human and so constricted by human limits and perspectives, we forget that we are created to manifest the Divine Image of God, and the actions of the kingdom of God in our human endeavors. Every action we take has eternal influence. Our daily lives are meant to be a pure and unwavering reflection of God’s character and purposes and glory.
Solomon asked for a discerning heart and the knowledge to distinguish right from wrong so that the kingdom of Israel would reflect the character and purposes and glory of the King of Kings. Sadly, like all human kings, he failed in many ways to listen to and follow God. But God never gives up on God’s creation. He is always ready to hear the prayer of those who ask for His wisdom.
In 1937, a young man named Marion Wade founded a residential cleaning and moth-proofing business. Over the next five years, he expanded his services and began franchising his business.
In 1944, Marion was badly injured when a batch of cleaning chemicals exploded. He nearly lost his eyesight. It was during his recovery from his injuries that Marion turned to God for help. In his prayer, he turned his whole life over to God. As he later wrote in his autobiography, “I don't expect any miracles. I don't intend to sit back and expect You to run everything, but I want You to tell me how to run things and send my way the men I will need to do the job.”
Soon, some graduates from Wheaton College, a Christian college near Chicago, applied for jobs with Marion Wade’s company. Two of those young men, Kenneth Hansen and Kenneth Wessner, partnered with him to found ServiceMaster, a residential and commercial cleaning business based on the idea that they were using their skills to serve their Master, Jesus Christ.
Today, ServiceMaster International operates throughout the U.S. and in eight other countries. It generates revenue of $3.5 billion per year. (5)
Marion Wade confronted his own inadequacy and prayed that God would guide him and equip him for the challenge in front of him. And God answered that prayer more abundantly than Wade could have ever imagined.
In James 1, the half-brother of Jesus assures us that if anyone asks God for wisdom, God will give it to them generously, without finding fault. Wisdom and discernment are reflections of God’s character and are necessary for accomplishing God’s purposes, so this prayer is always aligned with God’s will.
When we pray to God for a listening heart, we are turning our lives back over to the Creator God to use for His glory. God will add his awesome power to our average abilities, and He will accomplish through us more than we could possibly imagine.
1. “Alex Honnold, No Strings Attached” by David Roberts, OutsideOnline.com April 11, 2011. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/no-strings-attached/#:~:text=After%20a%20little%20more%20than,that%20towers%20above%20Yosemite%20Valley.
2. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala with Dean Merrill (Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Mich., 1997), p. 19.
3. “Solomon, the Wisest of Fools” by Jon Collins and Tim Mackie, “How to Read the Bible” podcast Bibleproject.com June 24, 2019. https://d1bsmz3sdihplr.cloudfront.net/media/Podcast%20Transcripts/TBP%20Transcripts/H2R%20Wisdom%20E3_Solomon%20-%20The%20Wisest%20of%20the%20Fools%20Transcript.pdf.
4. “Following Jesus Will Bring Division,” Northern Seminary blog. https://www.seminary.edu/following-jesus-will-bring-division-luke-1249-53/. https://www.pluscardenabbey.org/newsandevents/2016/8/20/homily-for-14-august-2016-sunday-20c-on-luke-1249-53.
5. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-servicemaster-company-history/.